America's Great Depression is regarded as having begun in 1929 with the
Stock Market crash, and ended in 1941 with America's entry into World
War II. However, to fully understand the Great Depression, one must
look at it in context of events that happened before and after those dates.
For that reason, the timeline below includes events many decades before
and after the Great Depression itself.

Several types of events are covered in the timeline below. The first
is the passage of legislation that effects either the money supply, international
trade, or price and wage controls. The second is important publications
about economics. The third is business cycle peaks and troughs.
The last is significant political and social events.

Year

Events

1873

Lombard Street, by Walter Bagehot, published. The book goes on to become the bible for central bankers.

1882

May 6th, Chinese Exclusion Act passed, suspending the immigration of Chinese Laborers for 10 years

Hepburn Act passed, extending the jurisdiction of the federal
government over interstate commerce to include express companies, companies
operating pipelines transporting petroleum products, and companies operating
sleeping cars on the railroads

July 15th, Newlands Act passed, creates the U.S. Board
of Mediation and Conciliation to adjust disputes between railroads and their
operating employees.

December 23rd, Federal Reserve Act passed

Underwood Tariff Act passed, the first reduction in duties since
the Civil War, also established a modest income tax

1914

June 28, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and wife are murdered by a Serb terrorist in Sarajevo, Bosnia

August, World War I begins

August 15, Panama Canal opened to traffic

September 26th, Federal Trade Commission established

Clayton Act passed, restricting mergers between companies

December 17, Harrison Narcotics Act passed

1915

May 7, nearly 1,200 people died when a German torpedo sank the British liner Lusitania off the Irish coast.

May 23rd, Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary.

1916

Child Labor Act passed, setting a national minimum age of 14
in industries producing nonagricultural goods for interstate commerce
or for export

Keating-Owen Act passed,
forbiding the transportation among states of products of factories, shops
or canneries employing children under 14 years of age, of mines employing
children under 16 years of age, and the products of any of these employing
children under 16 who worked at night or more than eight hours a day.

ICC empowered to prescribe intrastate rates when necessary to
eliminate discrimination against carriers in interstate commerce

Railroad Labor Board created

April 15, Frederick A. Parmenter, paymaster for the Slater and
Morrill Shoe Factories, and his guard, Alessandro Beradelli are murdered
during a robbery

May, Treasury begins to buy silver at one dollar an ounce, as
required by the Pittman Act of 1918

August 18th, 19th Amendment ratified (women's vote)

Jones Act passed, prohibits shipping merchandise between U.S.
ports "in any other vessel than a vessel built in and documented under
the laws of the United States and owned by persons who are citizens of
the United States.''

Warren G. Harding defeats Governor James M. Cox of Ohio to become the
29th President. Voter turnout is 49.2 percent, an all time low up
to then.

Congress passes an amendment to the constitution, empowering
Congress to limit, regulate, and prohibit the labor of persons under 18
years of age. (The number of state legislatures that ratified the proposed
amendment was 28, or 8 less than the 36 then required.)

Keiss Act passed, allowing unionization of the Government Printing
Office.

May 27th, Supreme Court unanimously declares Section 3 of the National Recovery Act to be unconstitutional, in
Schecter Poultry Corporation v. United States. Section 3
empowered the President to implement industrial codes to regulate weekly employment hours, wages, and minimum ages of employees.

June, National Youth Adminstration created by executive order

June 3, Farm Credit Act passed

July 5th, National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) passed

August 14th, Social Security Act passed

August 23rd, Banking Act passed

August 28th, Public Utility Holding Company Act passed

August 30th, Bituminous Coal Conservation Act passed

August 30th, Revenue Act (Wealth Tax Act ) passed.

Increased the surtax rate on individual incomes over $50,000,
the estate tax on individual estates over $40,000 and graduated steeply
taxes on individual incomes over $1 million until the rate was 75% in excess
of $5 million.

Decreased the small corporation tax rate to 12% while increasing
the corporate tax, on incomes above $15,000 to 15%.

Some excess profits over 10% were taxed at a 6% rate and in excess of 15% at a 12% rate.

August, Neutrality Act passed

September 2nd, a Category 5 hurricane, the most intense ever recorded in U.S. History, hits the Florida Keys,
killing over 400 people.

Robinson-Patman Act passed, effectively outlawing price cutting
by permitting price discrimination (charging different prices in different
markets) only if it can be justified by differential costs of serving
different markets, or if a price reduction is made "in good faith'' to
meet the price reduction of a competitor.

Rural Electrification Act passed, authorizing loans to qualified
borrowers, with preference given to nonprofit and cooperative associations
and public bodies, to construct and operate electric systems and generating
plants

Domestic Allotment Act passed

November 3rd, FDR defeats Alfred M. Landon, Governor of Kansas, to win second
term as President (electoral count 523 to 8)

1937

January 20th, FDR delivers his second inaugural address: "I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished."

It proposed to add judges at all levels of the federal courts,
assign judges to the more congested courts and adopt procedures to expedite
the appeals process by sending lower court cases on constitutional matters
directly to the Supreme Court

Justices of the Supreme Court who reached age 70 could retire

When a Supreme Court justice, age 70, did not retire, FDR could
add an additional judge up to 6, potentially increasing the court to 15
members.

March 1st, Supreme Court Retirement Act passed, permitting Supreme Court Justices to retire at age 70 with full pay, after 10 years of service

May 24th, Supreme Court declares (5 to 4) that the unemployment compensation provision of the SSA is constitutional in Steward Machine
Co vs Davis

May 24th, Supreme Court declares (7 to 2) that the old age benefits provisions of the SSA are constitutional in Helvering vs Davis

July 22nd, Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act passed, creating the Farm Security Agency (FSA). The FSA
established camps for migrant farm workers, provided medical care for those workers and their families, and
helped in finding jobs.

September 1st, United States Housing (Wagner-Steagall) Act passed,
creating the US Housing Authority (USHA) to administer low-interest 60-year
loans to small communities for slum clearance and construction projects
and to grant subsidies for setting rent geared to low-income levels in areas
where local agencies provided 25% of the federal grant.

1938

January 2nd, President Roosevelt establishes the March of Dimes.

February 16th, 2nd Agricultural Adjustment Act passed

June, economic contraction ends, economy begins to recover

June 23rd, Civil Aeronautics Authority established

June 25th, Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act signed into law

June 25th, Fair Labor Standards Act passed, enacting first national minimum wage law

September 30th, British and French prime ministers Neville Chamberlain and Édouard Daladier sign the Munich Pact with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler

October 30th, Orson Welles' broadcast of "War of the Worlds" persuades thousands of Americans that the United States is being invaded by Martians

November 1st, with 40 million radio listeners tuned in across the country, a long-anticipated match race between two
champion race horses, Seabiscuit and War Admiral is run. Seabiscuit beats War Admiral by four lengths in just over a
minute fifty-six for the mile and three-sixteenths, a new track record.

Supreme Court decides NLRB v. Mackay Radio & Telegraph,
finding that employers have an undisputed right to hire permanent replacement workers for striking workers in an economic strike.

Investment Company Act passed, allowing SEC to supervises the activities of mutual funds and other investment companies

Transportation Act passed, giving ICC authority to regulate common carriers operating in interstate commerce in the coastal, intercoastal,
and inland waters of the U.S.

1941

January 6th, President Roosevelt delivers his State of the Union address, saying "we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms."

January 7th, Office of Price Administration is created.

Davis-Bacon Act amended to include military construction

March, Lend-Lease Act passed, giving the president the authority
to aid any nation whose defense he believed vital to the United States and
to accept repayment "in kind or property, or any other direct or indirect
benefit which the President deems satisfactory."

May 1st, the Orson Welles motion picture "Citizen Kane" premiered in New York

December 7th, Japanese attack Pearl Harbor

December 8th, U.S. declares war on Japan

December 11th, Germany and Italy declare war on U.S.

1942

February 19th, FDR signs executive Order 9066, calling for the internment of over 100,000 Japanese-Americans.

November 9th, Supreme Court decides Wickard v. Filburn, finding
that the interstate commerce clause allows Congress to regulate
wheat production, even if the wheat is never sold and used only by the
grower

Emergency Rubber Production Act passed

1943

January 15th, construction of the Pentagon completed.

April 19th, Warsaw Ghetto uprising begins.

December 17th, Chinese Exclusion Repeal Act passed

1944

January 22nd, Allied troops begin assault on Rome.

June 6th, D-Day

July 1st-22nd, Bretton Woods Conference held, establishing the basis of the postwar international monetary system and creating the International Monetary Fund

November 7th, FDR defeats Thomas E. Dewey (432 to 99 Electoral College Votes) to win fourth term as President